At least one 911 call made the night before

DIXON – The body of an Iowa man found Wednesday along Interstate 88 wasn't discovered until nearly 12 hours after police first received a call about the man from a motorist.

State police on Thursday identified the man as Lee E. Catlin, 65, of Bettendorf. His body was found on I-88 just west of Dixon, next to the Hoyle Road overpass, his feet pointing toward the road.

Police said they didn't know how the man got there or what his cause of death was.

Catlin was found about 8 a.m. Wednesday, almost 12 hours after Bob Brouch, 52, made a 911 call to report a man on the shoulder of the highway.

Brouch and his wife were driving back home to Aurora from the Quad Cities.

"All of a sudden, there's this person lying on the side of the road waving his arms, and I'm shocked, startled," Brouch said. "I pull over, and I had to back up just maybe 10 yards so I could read a mile marker."

At 8:40 p.m., he called 911, and a woman's voice answered.

"I told her, 'There's a person lying on the side of 88 waving his arms toward traffic,'" Brouch said.

He relayed his location and the mile marker to the woman on the phone — twice, even, he thinks.

"She said that information is consistent with – I don't know if she said plural – other information that she received, or something to that effect, and that there was a response underway," Brouch said. "They said someone was on the way."

According to a news release, state police were dispatched to a call reporting a man on the shoulder, but they were unable to find anyone or any activity in the area.

"I moved on because I was assured that my call was consistent with other information and that I had been assured a response was being made," Brouch said.

An autopsy Thursday by the Lee County coroner's office did determine foul play was not a factor.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Illinois State Police at 815-632-4010, ext. 220.